Card retrieval device

ABSTRACT

A device for selectively drawing one of a large number of cards by means of an electromagnet in which the cards are each provided with an iron piece of a predetermined height at the leading edges of the cards and at different positions from each other. In order to provide selective drawal of the cards, a pressing means is provided for holding those cards, pressing means is provided for holding those cards which are not to be drawn. The operation of the pressing means and the electromagnet is controlled by the use of a microswitch.

Uite States Patent Takahama et al.

Appl. No.: 140,154

[73] Assignee:

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data May 18, 1970 Japan 45/41888 U.S.Cl. 209/80.5 Int. Cl. B07c 3/16 Field of Search 209/80.5, 11 1.8,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,625,358 12/1971 Duperron..209/80.5

[ June 12, 1973 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 802,139 10/1958 GreatBritain 209/80.5

Primary Examiner-Allen N. Knowles Att0rneyStevens, Davis, Miller &Mosher [57] ABSTRACT A device for selectively drawing one of a largenumber of cards by means of an electromagnet in which the cards are eachprovided with an iron piece of a predetermined height at the leadingedges of the cards and at different positions from each other. In orderto provide selective drawal of the cards, pressing means is provided forholding those cards, pressing means is provided for holding those cardswhich are not to be drawn. The operation of the pressing means and theelectromagnet is controlled by the use of a microswitch.

6 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures 'JUDCI USU no: E 120 I30 A5 PATENIED JUN 2I973 mnurz FIG.3A

FIG.

FIG.3B

FIG.2A

FIG.4

F.IG.2B

SEHZIIFZ BIO FIG.6

1 CARD RETRIEVAL DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION vided in or on therespective cards, but the selecting means employed therein isconsiderably complicated in construction. This is because most of thesedevices are designed such that the codes on the cards are detected whiledelivering the cards one by one while shifting the cards, arranged inside-by-side juxtaposed relation, in a lateral direction; therefore, thedetecting means is required to have a high electrical response speed andthe sorting or drawing means is required to have a relatively highoperational speed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a novel cardretrieval device which eliminates the above-described disadvantages ofthe prior art retrieval devices.

Namely, the basic object of the invention is to provide a card retrievaldevice which is simple in construc-.

tion and easy to operate.

Another object of the invention is to provide a card retrieval device inwhich a desired card is automatically selected and drawn by designatinga code provided on said card externally and by operating a push-buttonor the like.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a card selecting anddrawing device which comprises card drawing means adapted to draw adesired card by attracting with the use of a magnet an iron pieceprovided on said card and pressing means adapted to retain theunnecessary cards.

The other objects of the invention will become apparent from thefollowing description of the embodiment of the invention.

In order to attain the objects set forth above, the device according tothe invention comprises card stoppers for selectively pressing cards, aretainer member for retaining unnecessary cards after a desired card hasbeen drawn by the length of an iron piece provided on each card andmagnets for drawing the desired card.

Since the device of the invention is constructed as described above, thedesired card is drawn while holding the other cards stationary andthereby the construction of the device can be extremely simplified.

The term card as used herein means card-like sheets having any type ofinformation recorded therein, such as microfiche, slide films forprojectors and data cards.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGS. 1 4 illustrate the operation ofthe essential portion of the device according to the present invention,of which;

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the state in which card selecting-drawingelectromagnets are located closest to iron pieces provided on cards orthe like;

FIG. 2A is a side view showing the state in which one of theelectromagnets has drawn the corresponding card by the length of theiron piece;

FIG. 2B is a top plan view of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 3A is a side view showing the state in which the electromagnet hasdrawn the card by a length greater than the length of the iron piece;

FIG. 3B is a topplan view of FIG. 3A; and

FIG. 4 is a front view of the device in the position of FIGS. 2A and 2B;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the electric circuit of the electromagnets,etc. used in the device; and

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the timed operation of the respectiveelements in the device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, the deviceaccording to the present invention is designed for selectively drawing adesired card out of a plurality of cards 11, 12, 13 19 which havelongitudinally (in the left to right direction as viewed in FIG. 1)elongate iron pieces 1 10, 120, at the front edges and notches 111, 121,131 191 in the rear upper edges (in FIG. 1, the right side is referredto as front and the left side as the rear) respectively. The iron pieces110, 120 190 respectively provided on each card may be the same shapeand may be provided on the cards at different positions from each other,or alternatively may be of the type having two or more projections withthe positions of the projections being varied between the cards. At anyrate, the position or positions of the projection or projections of onecard is or are differentiated from the position or positions of theprojection or projections of the other cards. Further, the iron piecesare not necessarily made of iron but may be of any material which ismagnetically attractive. In this specification, nickel pieces or piecesof other materials are generally called iron pieces.

A hook member 1 is arranged above the card and is moved upwards ordownwards electrically for engagement with or disengagement from thenotch 111 formed in said card. The hook member 1 is operated with thetiming to be described later, to hold the card against movement. Thenotch 111 may obviously be formed at the rear lower portion of the carddepending upon the location of the hook member operating mechanism.

Provided in front of the cards is a set of vertically juxtaposedelectromagnets A1, A2 A10, generally indicated by numeral 2. The set ofelectromagnets A1 A10 may be substituted by one longitudinally elongatedelectromagnet, but in the description herein reference is made to anarrangement in which 10 separate electromagnets are provided. The set ofcard drawing electromagnets 2 is operated by a motor in such a mannerthat it makes a reciprocal movement towards and away from the cards, andupon completion of its onward stroke, the set of electromagnets islocated in a position close enough to attract the iron pieces. It ispreferable from the viewpoint of simplification of the mechanism thatthe set of electromagnets is moved at an equal speed on both the onwardand return strokes.

A plurality of card stoppers 3 (31 310) are provided at right angles tothe card drawing direction, i.e. the moving direction of the carddrawing electromagnets Al A10, and may be reciprocated to prevent thedrawal of the cards. The card stoppers 3 are longitudinally reciprocatedby stopper operating members (41 410) in the leftward or rightwarddirection as viewed in FIG. 4. The stopper operating members 4respectively have one end thereof engaging a respective card stopper 3and the other end swingably held by a frame 5 for swinging motion in acounterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 28, under the effect ofelectromagnets B. Further, each of the stopper operating members 4 isbiased in a direction opposite to the attracting direction of theelectromagnet B, by a leaf spring 50 which is secured at its rootportion. Thus, it may be understood that each stopper operating member 4moves the corresponding card stopper 3 to the right as viewed in FIG. 4,only for the period when the associated electromagnet B is energized.

With character C representing an electromagnet by which the hook member1 is lifted to be disengaged from the notch 111, the electric circuit ofthe electromagnets A, B, C is as shown in FIG. 5. As seen, theelectromagnets B and C are constantly connected in parallel and theelectromagnets A and B are electrically connected such that Al and B1,A2 and B2, A and B10 can be switched over. Therefore, A1 and B1 will notbe concurrently energized. A switch 6 for A and B is so arranged thatthe connection will be switched, for example, from B3 to A3 when asignal representative of 3 is fed. The circuit connecting theelectromagnet C in parallel with the electromagnets A or B is turned onand off by a relay R. The relay R is of the type that it is closed byone ON-OFF operation of a microswitch S2 and cut off by another ON-OFFoperation of the same.

This microswitch S2 is arranged such that it is turned on and off twiceby a microswitch operating member 7 during one reciprocal motion of theelectromagnets 2, i.e. once during the onward stroke and once during thereturn stroke of said electromagnets 2. The microswitch operating member7 is secured to the electromagnets 2 as shown in FIG. 1. Anothermicroswitch S1 is provided in side-by-side relation with the microswitchS2, on the side closer to the cards. The position of this microswitch S1is such that said microswitch 81 will be turned on only when theelectromagnets 2 are held closest to the iron pieces on the cards. Theelectromagnets 2 are energized with a strong magnetic attractive forceupon the actuation of the microswitch 81.

According to the device of the present invention constructed asdescribed above, the following operation can be obtained by actuatingthe respective electromagnets with a predetermined timing.

FIG. 6 shows a diagram illustrating the timed operational relation ofthe respective elements, in which the abscissa axis represents time.Namely, the chart at the upper portion of FIG. 6 shows the operation ofthe electromagnets 2, with the ordinate axis representing distance. Inthis chart, character X designates the rightward distance from the tipend of the iron piece. Hereinafter, the operation of the subject devicewill be described with reference to the drawings.

When a signal representative of the code, e.g. 3, of the desired card isfed to the device by means of a pushbutton or the like, only A3 of allthe electromagnets 2 and all of the electromagnets 8 other than B3 areplaced in a condition to be energized (see FIG. 5) and the card drawingelectromagnets 2 are moved at an equal speed towards the cards by thedrive of the motor. When the electromagnets 2 have been moved to aposition a predetermined distance away from the cards and themicroswitch S2 has been turned on and off by the microswitch operatingmember 7 carried by said electromagnets 2, the relay R is closed and allof the electromagnets B (B1, B2, B4, B10) except for B3 are energized,whereby the card stoppers 31, 32, 34 310 are shifted to the right asviewed in FIG. 4. At the same time the hook member 1 sets the cardsfree. As the electromagnets 2 move further towards the cards, themicroswitch operating member actuates the microswitch S1, so that theelectromagnet A3 is strongly energized, attracting the iron piece on thecard 13. Then, the electromagnets 2 start to move towards the right andthe microswitch S1 is turned off. The magnetic force of theelectromagnet A3 is somewhat weakened when the microswitch S1 is turnedoff and continuously draws the card 13 is continuously drawn to theright. The magnetic force of the electromagnet is instantaneouslyintensified as stated above, for the purpose of positively drawing thecard while overcoming the static friction between the card 13 and theadjacent cards (see FIG. 2B). As the electromagnets 2 move further tothe right and the microswitch S2 is again turned on and off, the relay Ris deenergized, so that the electromagnets B and C are deenergized andthe card stoppers 3 are moved to the left as viewed in FIG. 4. Also, atthe same time the hook member 1 is lowered to hook the cards. In thiscase, the card 13 is not hooked as it has been drawn by the length ofthe iron piece 131. Therefore, the card 13 only is drawn out incident tothe rightward movement of the electromagnets 2 (see FIG. 3B).

As described above, according to the device of the invention a cardhaving a specific code only can be selected and drawn out, by feeding asignal representative of said code externally to the device by means ofthe push-button or the like.

It will be understood from the foregoing description that this ispossible by the well timed operation of the card stoppers which pressthe cards selectively, the hook member which engages the notches in thecards after one card has been drawn by the length of the iron piece,and'the other elements. The device of such a construction as describedherein is novel and of great practical value.

With the device of the invention, it is also possible to simultaneouslydraw more than one card, by simultaneously energizing more than one ofthe electromagnets.

The device of the invention can be applied to an automatic microficheretrieval device by Combining it with a microfiche reader, and also to adata card retrieval device.

We claim:

1. A card retrieval device for selectively drawing a plurality of cards,each said card including, at the front edge thereof, an iron piecehaving a longitudinally extending projection and, at the rear side edgethereof, a notch, said device comprising a plurality of movable membersselectively projected to or retracted from the position of said ironpiece to prevent the drawal of a card; electromagnets which are movabletowards the cards to a position close enough to magnetically attract aniron piece and movable in the opposite direction; and a hook memberwhich is normally held in engagement with said notches but disengagestherefrom only for the period when said movable members are inoperation.

2. A card retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein control meansis provided which controls the operational timing of the respectivemembers in such a manner that said hook member is disengaged from cuitincluding a plurality of microswitches and the operation of saidelectromagnets is associated with said microswitches.

4. A card retrieval device according to claim I, wherein the number ofsaid movable members is greater than the number of the cards to beretrieved.

5. A card retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein the number ofsaid electromagnets is greater than the number of the cards to beretrieved.

6. A card retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein saidelectromagnets are replaced by one elongated electromagnet, so that theiron pieces on all of the cards are magnetically simultaneouslyattracted by said electromagnet.

1. A card retrieval device for selectively drawing a plurality of cards,each said card including, at the front edge thereof, an iron piecehaving a longitudinally extending projection and, at the rear side edgethereof, a notch, said device comprising a plurality of movable membersselectively projected to or retracted from the position of said ironpiece to prevent the drawal of a card; electromagnets which are movabletowards the cards to a position close enough to magnetically attract aniron piece and movable in the opposite direction; and a hook memberwhich is normally held in engagement with said notches but disengagestherefrom only for the period when said movable members are inoperation.
 2. A card retrieval device according to claim 1, whereincontrol means is provided which controls the operational timing of therespective members in such a manner that said hook member is disengagedfrom the notches when said movable members are in a position toselectively prevent the card drawal, and is brought into engagement withsaid notches after a desired card has been drawn to a position in whichsaid hook member is not engageable with the notch in said desired card.3. A card retrieval device according to claim 2, wherein said controlmeans comprises an electric circuit including a plurality ofmicroswitches and the operation of said electromagnets is associatedwith said microswitches.
 4. A card retrieval device according to claim1, wherein the number of said movable members is greater than the numberof the cards to be retrieved.
 5. A card retrieval device according toclaim 1, wherein the number of said electromagnets is greater than thenumber of the cards to be retrieved.
 6. A card retrieval deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein said electromagnets are replaced by oneelongated electromagnet, so that the iron pieces on all of the cards aremagnetically simultaneously attracted by said electromagnet.